Abdullah Zahid, Hollis Library ManagerHollis is a neighborhood with a lot of pride in its library, and none could be better suited to manage a branch in such a community than Abdullah Zahid. Zahid learned the full value of a public lib...

Marc Haken, Community AdvocateIn a city full of civic-minded individuals, few are as involved as Marc Haken in their own local community. Haken serves as president of the Hilltop Village Co-op Number 4 board and Friends of Cunn...

Giovanni P. Silvagni, Partner/Silvagni & ComoQueens native Giovanni Silvagni has long focused his career on assisting the elderly – Italian immigrants in particular. “I grew up in Queens, went to school in Queens, and still have an office in ...

Kodjo Hounnake, PickUpLater FounderAfter many years of working in finance, Kodjo Hounnake is stepping out into the unknown to combine his love for smart investments with his lifelong passion of personal health. Hounnake, 34, grew up...

John Beltzer, Songs of LoveAfter many years of struggling to make it in the music industry, Forest Hills resident John Beltzer had taken his share of blows, from the tragic loss of his fraternal twin brother Julio in 1984 to...

Ila Gross, LeAp FounderAfter two years working as a special education teacher, Ila Gross didn’t think she was cut out to be an educator, so she left the teaching field and applied her skills as a fine artist. It wasn’t u...

Sajjad Khalfan, Awards & Signs ExpressWhen Sajjad Khalfan’s father was still living in Tanzania, he took up the trade of manufacturing awards and signs, and when he moved to the U.S. with his family in tow, he brought that trade with h...

Chris Landano, TrakBelt 360 InventorAfter a bulky equipment belt led to a near-death experience while working as a photographer for the FDNY 10 years ago, Chris Landano realized he needed a more versatile system for carrying his gear...

Jin-Xiang Yu, Queens College GradJin-Xiang Yu recently graduated from Queens College, however that is only the beginning of her educational career. After three years at the Aaron Copland School of music, the soprano became just on...

Colvin Grannum, Bed-Stuy Restoration When Colvin Grannum was a child, he and his brothers took weekly walks through the neighborhood with their parents, who would chat up the neighbors and shopkeepers, all of whom were on a first-name...

Elvis Valdez, Master GardenerFor Elvis Valdez landscaping is a lifelong passion, and for the past 14 years he has worked with the Parks Department to beautify and maintain parks around the city. A 2006 graduate of the Master G...

Laura Ward, ChoreographerIf you asked Laura Ward's friends about her, they might tell you she's a dancer or they might tell you she is a conceptual artist who uses dance as a tool. That's because while she has been a dance...

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of men from eastern Aleppo have gone missing after leaving rebel-held areas, the United Nations' human rights office said on Friday, voicing deep concern that government forces could be mistreating them. U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville also said there were reports that two rebel militias -- Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, and the Abu Amara Battalion -- had during the last two weeks abducted and killed an unknown number of civilians in the city who had asked armed groups to leave their neighborhoods to save the lives of civilians. Syrian government forces pressed on with their offensive in Aleppo on Thursday night and into Friday with ground fighting and air strikes, Reuters witnesses, rebels and a monitoring group said, part of a push to retake all of the city's besieged rebel-held east.

Before Syria's ruinous civil war struck Aleppo, the country's largest city was a busy commercial powerhouse and a proud historic center - its long heritage on display in ancient landmarks still used by modern day traders, travelers or worshippers. The rebels hoped their march into Aleppo marked the beginning of the end for President Bashar al-Assad, while the government in Damascus pledged to swiftly drive them out.

By Robin Respaut SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Juanita Gomez Cruz irons clothes and fries pasteles to help support her family. Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship, and the island has been under U.S. control since it was ceded by Spain in the Treaty of Paris in 1898.